Jazz dance is a performance dance and style that arose in the United States in the mid 20th century. Jazz dance may allude to vernacular jazz, Broadway or dramatic jazz. The two types expand on African American vernacular styles of dance that arose with jazz music. Vernacular jazz dance incorporates ragtime moves, Charleston, Lindy hop and mambo. Popular vernacular jazz dance performers include The Whitman Sisters, Florence Mills, Ethel Waters, Al Minns and Leon James, Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, Dawn Hampton, and Katherine Dunham. Dramatic jazz dance performed on the show stage was promoted by Jack Cole, Bob Fosse, Eugene Louis Faccuito, and Gus Giordano.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It was named in 1964 as a memorial to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Opened on September 8, 1971, the center hosts many different genres of performance art, such as theater, dance, orchestras, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music.
Evanston Township High School (ETHS) is a public high school in Evanston, Illinois. The campus is located in a northern suburb of Chicago along the Lake Michigan shore. ETHS was established in 1883 and serves the city of Evanston and a small portion of the neighboring village of Skokie for a total district population of approximately 78,000.
Jazzercise is a fitness franchise company founded by Judi Sheppard Missett in 1969 and headquartered in Carlsbad, California, United States. The franchise's name is a portmanteau of "jazz" and "exercise."
Jazz hands in performance dance is the extension of a performer's hands with palms toward the audience and fingers splayed. This position is also referred to as webbing. It is commonly associated with especially exuberant types of performance such as musicals, cheerleading, show choir, revue, and especially jazz dance shows. In cheerleading, the position with arms outstretched and fingers wiggling up and down is sometimes referred to as spirit fingers or jazz fingers. Depending on the performance venue, both gestures can be associated with campiness.
Terence Oliver Blanchard is a world-renowned, 7-time Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter and composer. He has also written two operas and more than 80 film and television scores. Blanchard has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Original Score for BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods, both directed by Spike Lee, a frequent collaborator.
Chicago a cappella is an American classical vocal ensemble founded in 1993 by Jonathan Miller. The organization displays a yearly subscription series for Chicago residents, produces studio recordings as well as live and broadcast-media musical content, and performs on tour and in special arrangements. Expanding from a collection of a Gregorian chants to the Beatles and beyond, the singers are known for their wide repertoire including early works, vocal jazz, and spirituals. The ensemble is also a champion of performing works by living composers.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is a contemporary dance company based in Chicago. Hubbard Street performs in downtown Chicago at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance and at the Edlis Neeson Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Hubbard Street also tours nationally and internationally throughout the year.
Gus Giordano, born after August Thomas Giordano III, was an American jazz dancer, teacher, and choreographer. He performed on Broadway, in theater and on television. Giordano taught jazz dance to thousands around the world. He founded the Gus Giordano Dance School in 1953, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in 1963, created the First American Jazz Dance World Congress in 1990 and is the author of Anthology of American Jazz Dance (1975). He taught at institutions around the world including American Ballet Theatre, The American University of Paris, Duke University, Joffrey Ballet, and New York University. Giordano was one of the founders of theatrical or Broadway jazz dance styles, not to be confused with African American vernacular jazz styles that he drew upon.
The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus (CGMC) is a choral organization in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1983 with 55 singers, the chorus currently consists of approximately 150 singing members and over 200 members in total.
Patti Rutland is an American choreographer and the artistic director of Patti Rutland Jazz, a contemporary jazz dance and hip hop dance company based in Dothan, AL.
Patti Rutland Jazz started as a multi-genre, professional dance company located in Dothan, Alabama. It was founded in 1989 by choreographer Patti Rutland. The company produced 3 main stage shows per year as well as a show in their black box theatre. Guest artists for Patti Rutland Jazz include Ben Verreen. The company has won awards at the Jazz Dance World Congress, including the esteemed Gold Shoe Award. In 2018, Patti Rutland retired as artistic director and named Christina Green Hicks as her successor.
Benjamin Feliksdal is a Dutch ballet dancer. He has danced as soloist and principal dancer with Het Nederlandse Ballet 1960, Het Nationale Ballet 1961/1971, and with the Royal Ballet of Flanders 1972/1973.
Chicago Dance Crash is an American physical theater and street dance company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company tours year round while sustaining a calendar year ‘season’ of local premiers and commercial work as well as a spring/fall educational outreach program. The company has received widespread critical acclaim while being considered one of the most notable American dance companies to emerge during the first decade of the 2000s.
The Northshore Concert Band (NCB) is a 100-member concert band based in Evanston, Illinois which performs throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.
Jessica Anne Deahr NeVille is an American contemporary dancer and choreographer. A dancer and first generation student of James Morrow's "fusion technique" as part of the now defunct contemporary dance company "Instruments of Movement", she was named Artistic Director of Chicago Dance Crash in November 2012. Throughout her career, Deahr has performed, taught, and choreographed around the world.
The Chicago Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois, governed by the Chicago Philharmonic Society. Founded in 1988 by principals of the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, it is a musician-governed, non-profit organization consisting of nearly 200 classical music performers from the Chicago area. Since 2013, the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor has been Scott Speck.
Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater is an American Spanish-dance company in residence at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. The Ensemble Español consists of the professional dance company, touring nationally and internationally throughout the year, as well as the youth company. The Ensemble Español provides arts education programming to students across Chicago, runs community outreach programs/workshops, offers college level dance courses at Northeastern Illinois University, and produces the annual American Spanish Dance and Music Festival.
Eduardo Vilaro is a Cuban-American dancer, choreographer, educator, and artistic director & CEO of Ballet Hispánico. He first joined Ballet Hispánico as a principal dancer in 1985, leaving for Chicago a decade later to further his education and found the Luna Negra Dance Theater, for which he was artistic director. He returned to Ballet Hispánico in 2009 as artistic director, the second since the organization's founding in 1970, and has also served as CEO for the company since 2015 when a reorganization merged these artistic and administrative roles. His vision for Ballet Hispánico draws on the Latin dance traditions and educational outreach set forth by founder Tina Ramirez while responding to the more complex cultural landscape of the 21st century with a greater focus on diversity, inclusion, and community engagement.
Gaspard Louis is a Haitian dancer, choreographer, and artistic director. A former dancer with Pilobolus, he is the founder and artistic director of the modern dance company Gaspard and Dancers. Louis is also on the faculty at North Carolina Central University and the American Dance Festival.
